Subsidies, those other entitlements

Monday

Nov 28, 2011 at 7:00 AM

Most of the discussion about entitlements today is about the need to adjust Social Security and Medicare by, among other things, raising the age at which someone can begin to draw Social Security benefits or changing the index by which payments are adjusted annually. Medicare, some say, needs to be replaced for people under 55 now or the payments to doctors need to be reduced.

BRAD KENT

Most of the discussion about entitlements today is about the need to adjust Social Security and Medicare by, among other things, raising the age at which someone can begin to draw Social Security benefits or changing the index by which payments are adjusted annually. Medicare, some say, needs to be replaced for people under 55 now or the payments to doctors need to be reduced.

It is important to note that most of those who receive benefits from these programs have paid into them during their working lives. Some recipients will receive more benefits than they have paid into the programs, and some will receive less.

There are other entitlements not referred to or thought of as entitlements, but the recipients and some members of Congress feel the recipients are entitled to the benefits they receive from the government, even though they have not paid for these benefits.

For example, farm subsidies for corporate farmers. These subsidies have been paid for so long that the recipients feel entitled to them, and the congressmen from these farm states believe the recipients are entitled to the subsidies.

Then, there are oil subsidies that our government for some time has been giving to Big Oil to drill. Again, the subsidies are seen by the recipients as an entitlement, and some members of Congress of a certain party, or representatives of certain states, feel these subsidies are not only an entitlement, but their elimination would constitute a tax.

Our government generally gives back to most of the so-called red states more than they return to the government. I'm sure those who represent them feel those states are entitled to those excess payments and may, in fact, have provided for legislation to be passed to ensure that such benefits continue in one form or another.

We also have hedge fund managers and members of Congress from New York, New Jersey and Connecticut who believe that hedge fund managers are entitled to have their income treated as "carried interest," entitling them to a 15 percent rate on income that for some was as high as $4 billion in a recent year. A senator from New York has indicated that these hedge fund managers are entitled to such a tax because of the risks they take. What he didn't say was that they were risking other people's money.

Finally, there are those in the Congress who feel entitled to not have to listen to the majority of the American people who, time after time, have indicated they want jobs for the unemployed; higher taxes for the top 1 percent of earners; and legislation to provide for those two wants.

Most of us would say we are entitled to a do-something Congress, since most of us did not vote for a do-nothing Congress.

Brad Kent lives in Cummaquid.

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